The present invention relates to a stringed instrument bridge.
A stringed instrument bridge (hereafter, referred to as the “bridge”) is used to support strings on the body of a stringed instrument, such as a guitar. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, a bridge 100 is fixed to an upper surface 90a of a guitar body 90. A groove 102, which extends in a direction intersecting with the strings 101, is formed on the upper surface 100a of the bridge 100. A saddle 103 having a contact surface 103a that contacts the strings 101 is fitted in the groove 102. The saddle 103 is supported so that the contact surface 103a protrudes from the upper surface 100a of the bridge 100. The bridge 100 supports the saddle 103. Further, with the saddle 103, the bridge 100 supports the strings 101 in a manner enabling the strings 101 to vibrate.
Parts of a guitar, such as the body and neck, are mostly made of wood. Since wood desiccates as time elapses from when the guitar is manufactured, warping occurs in parts, such as the neck. The amount of warping gradually increases. As the warping in the guitar parts increase, the height of the strings from the body surface (hereafter, referred to as the “string height”) becomes greater than that when the guitar is manufactured. This makes it difficult for a player to press the strings 101 with the player's fingers when playing the guitar. In such a case, the height of the saddle 103 is adjusted by scraping the end face of the saddle 103 so as to set the height of the strings 101 to a desired height.
For the reasons described above, it is desirable that the saddle 103 be provided with a sufficient height range in order to cope with changes in the height of the strings 101. However, as shown in FIG. 15, if the height of the saddle 103 is increased, unless the saddle 103 is fitted deeper into the groove 102, the upper end of the saddle 103 will be tilted toward the neck (the direction indicated by the arrow T in FIG. 15) by the tension of the strings 101. Such tilting of the saddle 103 will result in unstable supporting of the strings 101 and lower the aesthetic appeal of the guitar. When a pickup is installed under the saddle 103, this may adversely affect conversion of vibrations of the strings 101 into electrical signals.
A stringed instrument bridge providing a means for preventing tilting of the saddle 103 has been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,545 discloses a stringed instrument bridge having two ends that are higher than the top of the saddle.
In the case of the stringed instrument bridge described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,545, the tilt of the saddle caused by the tension of the strings is prevented at the two ends of the saddle but not at the central portion of the saddle. In other words, the entire saddle cannot be supported uniformly. Thus, the saddle cannot be held in a satisfactory manner.